Safe under such a wing, the boy shall show
No fpots contracted among grooms below,
Nor taint his speech with meanneffes, design'd
By footman Tom for witty and refin'd.
There, in his commerce, with the liveried herd,
Lurks the contagion chiefly to be fear'd;
For fince (fo fashion dictates) all who claim
An higher than a mere plebeian fame,
Find it expedient, come what mifchief may,
To entertain a thief or two in pay,
(And they that can afford th' expence of more,
Some half a dozen and some half a score)
Great caufe occurs to fave him from a band
So fure to fpoil him, and fo near at hand;
A point fecur'd, if once he be fupplied
With fome fuch Mentor always at his fide.
Are fuch men rare ? perhaps they would abound
Were occupation easier to be found,
Were education, else so sure to fail,
Conducted on a manageable scale,
And fchools, that have outliv'd all just esteem,
Exchang'd for the fecure domeftic scheme.-
But, having found him, be thou duke or earl,
Show thou haft fenfe enough to prize the pearl,
And, as thou woud'ft th' advancement of thine
heir
In all good faculties beneath his care,
Refpect, as is but rational and juft,
A man deem'd worthy of fo dear a trust.
Defpis'd by thee, what more can he expect
From youthful folly, than the fame neglect?
A flat and fatal negative obtains,
That inftant, upon all his future pains;
His leffons tire, his mild rebukes offend,
And all the inftructions of thy fon's best friend
Are a stream choak'd, or trickling to no end.
Doom him not then to folitary meals,
But recollect that he has fenfe, and feels;
And that, poffeffor of a foul refin'd,
An upright heart and cultivated mind,
His poft not mean, his talents not unknown,
He deems it hard to vegetate alone.
And if admitted at thy board he fit,
Account him no just mark for idle wit;
Offend not him, whom modefty restrains
From repartee, with jokes that he disdains,
Much lefs, transfix his feelings with an oath,
Nor frown unless he vanish with the cloth.-
And, trust me, his utility may reach
To more than he is hir'd or bound to teach,
Much trash unutter'd, and fome ills undone,
Through rev'rence of the cenfor of thy fon.
But if thy table be indeed unclean,
Foul with excefs, and with discourse obscene,
And thou a wretch, whom, following her old
The world accounts an honourable man,
Because forfooth thy courage has been tried
And stood the teft, perhaps on the wrong fide,
Though thou hadft never grace enough to prove
That any thing but vice could win thy love ;-
Or haft thou a polite, card-playing wife,
Chain'd to the routs that the frequents, for life, »
Who, just when industry begins to fnore,
Flies, wing'd with joy, to fome coach-crowded!
door,.
And thrice in ev'ry winter throngs thine own
With half the chariots and fedans in town, ›
Thyfelf meanwhile e'en fhifting as thou may'ft,
Not very fober though, nor very chafte ;-
Or is thine house, though less superb thy rank,›
If not a scene of pleasure, a mere blank,
And thou at beft, and in thy fob'reft mood,,
A trifler vain, and empty of all good;—
Though mercy for thyfelf thou can'ft have none,
Hear nature plead, fhow mercy to thy fon:
Sav'd from his home, where ev'ry day brings forth`
Some mischief fatal to his future worth,
Find him a better in a diftant spot,
Within fome pious paftor's humble cot,
Where vile example (your's I chiefly mean,
The most feducing and the oft'neft feen)
May never more be stamp'd upon his breast,
Not yet perhaps incurably imprefs'd.
Where early rest makes early rising sure,
Disease or comes not, or finds easy cure,
Prevented much by diet neat and plain,
Or if it enter, soon starv'd out again :
Where all th' attention of his faithful hoft,
Discreetly limited to two at most,
May raise fuch fruits as fhall reward his care,
And not at last evaporate in air :
Where, stillness aiding study, and his mind
Serene, and to his duties much inclin❜d,
Not occupied in day-dreams, as at home,
Of pleasures past or follies yet to come,
His virtuous toil may terminate at last
In fettled habit and decided taste.-
But whom do I advife? the fashion-led,
Th' incorrigibly wrong, the deaf, the dead,
Whom care and cool deliberation fuit
Not better much than fpectacles a brute,
Who, if their fons fome flight tuition share,
Deem it of no great moment whose, or where;
Too proud t'adopt the thoughts of one unknown,
And much too gay t' have any of their own.
But courage, man! methought the muse replied,
Mankind are various, and the world is wide;
The oftrich, fillieft of the feather'd kind,
And form'd of God without a parent's mind,
Commits her eggs, incautious, to the duft,
Forgetful that the foot may crush the trust;
And, while on public nurs'ries they rely,
Not knowing, and too oft not caring, why,
Irrational in what they thus prefer,
No few, that would seem wife, resemble her.
But all are not alike. Thy warning voice
May here and there prevent erroneous choice
And fome perhaps, who bufy as they are,
Yet make their progeny their dearest care,
(Whose hearts will ache, once told what ills may
reach
Their offspring, left upon fo wild a beach)
Will need no stress of argument t' inforce
Th' expedience of a lefs advent'rous course;
The reft will flight thy counfel, or condemn;
But they have human feelings-turn to them.
To you then, tenants of life's middle ftate,
Securely plac'd between the finall and great,
Whose character, yet undebauch'd, retains
Two thirds of all the virtue that remains,
Who, wife yourselves, defire your fons should
learn
Your wisdom and your ways-to you I turn.
Look round you on a world perverfely blind,
See what contempt is fall'n on human kind-
See wealth abus'd, and dignities mifplac'd,
Great titles, offices, and trusts difgrac'd,
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